— by Wilson Chapman
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On “Róisín Machine,” Róisín Murphy is at her disco-queen best
omewhat ironically, given how the pandemic has effectively shut down dance clubs for the entire year, one of 2020’s biggest music trends has been the reemergence of disco as a major force in pop. The genre never entirely went away, even at the height of the (openly racist and homophobic) “Disco Sucks” backlash in the early ‘80s, with its sound and style bleeding over into ‘80s pop music and continuing to influence dance music for decades. But in 2020, a hit pop song openly cribbing from the disco playbook is the norm rather than a fluke, from Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” to Lady Gaga’s “Stupid Love” to BTS’s recent number one hit “Dynamite.” Even touchstones of ‘70s disco culture have been making something of a comeback in popularity, such as the rise of viral roller-skating videos on TikTok. Next month, in a natural culmination of this trend, Kylie Minogue will be releasing a disco-influenced album titled, appropriately, “Disco.” I like all of the songs I’ve mentioned, but to be clear, calling them “disco” songs is an exaggeration. They all certainly take some inspiration from disco music, but that inspiration mainly informs the bells and whistles of standard pop songs that otherwise could have been made pretty much anytime in the last decade or so. There’s nothing wrong with artists adopting select elements of the genre to suit their individual styles, and the songs are often better for it, but it does risk diluting the term, with any moderately upbeat synth-song being touted as “disco-pop.” Two 2020 releases stand out, then, in how they use disco to inform their style in ways that go deeper than basic aesthetics. The first is English artist Jessie Ware’s fantastic record “What’s Your Pleasure?” which mines the sound of early ‘80s post-disco music scenes, particularly
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the Hi-NRG movement, to stellar results. The on these songs is evident in the level of polish second is Róisín Murphy’s fifth studio album, on the record; the songs are long, impeccably “Róisín Machine,” recently released on October designed dance tracks, filled with layered vocals 2. and huge, dramatic builds that lend a theatrical Unlike many of the artists feel to the record. behind this disco renaissance The opener, eight of sorts, who are just now and a half minute incorporating its influences long “Simulation,” into their music, Murphy is an epic that takes has been working with the its time to get going, tools of the genre for years. starting out with a The Irish artist got her start muted intro filled with as the vocalist of late-’90s/ breathy vocals before early aughts electronica the beat kicks in and duo Moloko, then went slowly transforms into solo after she broke up an effortlessly likeable with her then-boyfriend groove. Courtesy of Skint Records and producer Mark At its core, disco is a Brydon. Her 2005 debut “Ruby Blue” genre of big hooks and was a fascinatingly weird fusion of electronic big feelings; it’s a style suited for melodrama, for music with jazz trappings, but it was her follow expressing broad emotions like desire, hatred, up, 2007’s “Overpowered,” where Murphy found despair and lust. Murphy understands this, and her niche as a dancefloor queen, an expert at she’s an expert at crafting songs that play to the constructing sparkling, infectious grooves. Since genre’s strengths. She’s never better than she then, most of her music has had a bit of the genre is on the best track “Something More,” which in its DNA, but “Róisín Machine” is her most starts with a Greek chorus of sorts that repeats disco album since “Overpowered,” and arguably the phrase the lyric is built around, “I want the most disco project she’s released in her career. something more.” Eventually Murphy kicks in Perhaps not coincidentally, it’s also her best work with the chorus, a plea for love that you’re just as yet. likely to cry to as you are to dance to. When she Murphy has been working on the songs that transitions to the bridge about halfway through, form the core of ‘Róisín Machine” for the better it’s the type of killer moment that turns a good part of a decade; several of the songs on the song into a terrific one, transporting the listener album were originally released as part of a series into a state of euphoric longing and bliss. of limited-edition vinyl 12-inch singles produced “Something More” demonstrates all the by her frequent collaborator Richard Barratt. strengths of disco, and what the genre can achieve The first song on the album to be written, the in the hands of an artist who knows it inside and icy “Incapable,” was released back in 2012. The out. If disco’s comeback produces more songs like length of time that Murphy has had to tinker it, then long live disco. ◊
